Issue #1 of The Toy Tractor Times: August 15, 1983

The Toy Tractor Times dates back to 1980.  Rick Larsen of Osage, Iowa met a young man named Rob Walters also from Osage who collected toy tractors.  Rob's father owned a tractor lot and machinery shop where he displayed his farm toys.  It was here Rick was bitten by the collecting bug.  Impressed by Rob's collection Rick started attending farm toy shows in Iowa to collect the tractors he grew up with on his fathers farm.  

After three years of collecting Rick started to think about putting out a magazine.  The Toy Farmer Magazine had been out six years and the Ertl Replica had been launched in the spring of 1982 just a year earlier.  Rick was not looking to go into competition with the popular publications but he wanted to add a new slant to the farm toy hobby.

 Rick Larsen talked to Rob  Walters about his magazine idea.  Rob thought it was a great idea. Rick wanted to start a magazine that got collectors together from across the country  to learn about the tractors they collect and to share the hobby through different perspectives.  Rick and Rob started laying the ground work in early 1983 for the new magazine.  The original plan was to offer the Farm Toy Times.  Rick's wife Linda thought about the name and offered a name change to The Toy Tractor Times.   The Toy Tractor Times seemed to be a better description of the magazine.  A magazine that like a news paper kept collectors up to date on the current collecting times of the hobby.  Now the magazine had a name. The next thing it needed was subscribers. 

Rick and Rob went to the 3rd Annual Plow City Show.  At this great show Rick and Rob met many collectors who were interested in The Toy Tractor Times.  100 people subscribed to the new magazine by the time of  TTT's release on August 15, 1983.  

The first issue's front cover  reported on Plow City Toy Show. The cover also dawned the now fimilar TTT logo and trade mark slogan.   Linda Larsen was just as excited as Rick was about the magazine. She had started doodling the magazine name on paper and came up with the idea of having a tractor pull the name like a team of wagons.  Looking at the tractor and three T's Linda thought they were like a chain. Links in a chain.  Linda came up with the TTT slogan "Linking Together The Chain of Farm Toy Collectors".  

The original issue was 10 pages long.  It reported  on the Plow City Toy Show , toy collectors and up coming toy shows.  It also had a classifieds section. This is an interesting section to look back at. In 1983 a 1/16 Allis-Chalmers 7080, Case 2390, IH 1586 and JD "4440" were all just $20.  The back page had the first TTT cartoon.  Over the years TTT offered a monthly cartoon reflecting on the toy hobby.  

The next few years became of labor of love for Rick and Linda.  They purchased a Xerox copier and printed the magazine in their basement.  By 1986 they were printing 1,500 copies an issue.  It took hours and hours to get each issue published.  One memory Rick recalled about those early days was a time he and Linda were putting the issue together and heading to a toy show.  They finished all the magazines and got in the car to head to show.  It was midnight and they had a long drive so Linda offered to drive first so Rick could sleep a little and then trade off.  Rick fell a sleep and  then was woken up by Linda.  He thought he must have been sleeping for a few hours.  In fact it had only been 20 miles. Linda was already tired. It was time to find a printer.

1986 was also the first year of the TTT Anniversary Tractor.  It was the Massey-Harris Pony.  You can read about the history of TTT tractors in this issue.

The Larsen's published The Toy Tractor Times for 19 years.  At its peak TTT linked 6,000 readers together.  The best part of working on the Times for the Larsen's was attending toy shows.  It was a great time for them and their children Lori and Charles. It was like a mini family vacation each weekend. Plus they were able to travel many places including Iowa, Illinois Minnesota, New York and Pennsylvania.   They made many friends over the years as well.

In 2002 the Larsen's took on new responsibilities with their jobs that no longer allowed them to have the time to run The Toy Tractor Times.  In May of  2002  Rick started talking to Jason Hasert a subscriber of the magazine.  Jason owned the popular website Toy Tractor Show.com .  Rick and Linda felt that Jason had the same strong interest in the hobby that they did.   In  November the Toy Tractor Times was sold to Jason and the last print issue was mailed in December.   

Today the Larsen's still read the Toy Tractor Times monthly and have a little more time to enjoy life.  Rick has a collection of real tractors in addition to the toys.  This past summer Rick has participated in several state wide tractor rides in Iowa with his restored IH 706.  The Toy Tractor Times as it begins its 20th year is on a new course as a web based magazine.  TTT is proud of the past that Rick and Linda built over 19 years and is focused on the future of linking together the chain of farm toy collectors on the world wide web.